How did it become like this?
by Yumehara Nozomi
Summary: Whilst on holiday at their friend's island, Rin takes a little bit of time to reflect on how things got to the way they are. Fourth story, Fourth attempt. One shot.


***PRECURE DOES NOT BELONG TO PEARL-TAN! ALL RIGHTS/CREDITS GO TO TOEI ANIMATIONS!***

_**"If a Leader falls, then the rest of the team will stand up to defend and protect that one person they chose to follow.  
**__**If a team-mate falls, the Leader will be the one to take the first step to protect them.  
**__**If you are apart of a team, then you will find out that if you fall down, no matter how many times, they will do everything they can to make sure that you will be able to stand up once more and face the cause of your downfall with twice as much power as before. **_

_**That is a promise from everyone to everyone."**_

Gazing up from the sudden sound of laughter, I start to wonder _how did things come to be like this?_ again. I often think about this but I've never come across an answer. Was it all just because we decided to trust our everything in to our leader?

"Hey Rin, come and join us!" I hear my childhood friend call to me.

"Yeah, come on Rin. You've been sat there for ages just staring at nothing." This snaps me out of my state of mind.

"I'm alright guys. You go and have some fun. I'll join you guys in a bit ok?" I reply to the two girls. One of them is my childhood friend, Yumehara Nozomi, and the other is our younger friend, Kasugano Urara, who then looked disappointed at each other.

I was about to tell them not to worry about me when a blast of water hits me in the face. "Uh oh" I hear Syrup, our delivery friend, say before trying to hide behind the others who quickly move out the way.

"OI SYRUP! YOU. ARE. SO. GOING. TO. GET. IT. NOW!" I yell, sitting up and grabbing the spare water gun before chasing him around with it. I ended up squirting him about ten times before he surrendered. "Hey, guys. Help me get some payback?" I call to the three of the others who instantly grab one of his foot or his other hand each and help me chuck him into the pool. "The sweet taste of payback is nice." I say earning a giggle from the others.

Before Lunchtime.

We were staying at Karen's island, again, for a week. "Say Karen, after our lunch has settled down why don't we go swimming in the sea?" Komachi, our second eldest team-mate, asks Karen, who's the eldest.

"Sure, it would be nice if we did that. Plus it would burn off the extra calories." Karen says. Though, just as she did said it Nozomi popped her head over the side of the sofa her, Urara and Coco were sat on.

"Did she really just say that we can go Komachi? Did she really agree?" She asks us eagerly. We nod our heads at the now over-excited Nozomi. All the while whilst Kurumi just rolls her eyes.

"Yeah she did, why are you so excited about going to in the sea? You're acting like you've never been in it before." She teases her. Wait, how did she know?

* * *

After Lunch, In the Lounge area.

Wait, is that really the only reason that she's excited?! Sometimes I really dont understand despite knowing her most of my life. But, she's like my little sister, "Nozomi" is.

"What's the matter Rin-chan?" I open my eyes to Nozomi looking at me. "You said my name." She tells me. Guess I kind of looked confused for her too tell me that.

"Oh it's nothing, Guess I was just thinking out loud." I explain back to her. She looks at me curiously before her eyes go to the door. After a minute of calling her name and her not responding, she runs outside.  
"Where's Nozomi going Rin?" Urara asks me whilst she walks over, eyes fixated on the doors where Nozomi just ran out.

"I don't know. At times like this, I can't figure out what the hell she is thinking at times. She's like that though, really unpredictable. But, it's alright. It has a nice side to it." I start to say before even realizing what I just said. "What did I say something weird?" I ask anxiously as I realized that they were staring at me.

"No, it's not that. It's just that we've never heard you say anything like this before. But, why do you think she's unpredictable Rin?" Natts asks me, stunned.

"Well, since I've known Nozomi, I've never been able to tell what she is thinking and what she might do next. It's brought along quite a lot of surprises, including finding something she exceptional at," I say this bit quite fast as a sign that we can talk about it another time  
" But it' also brought along a lot of misfortune. When I became friends with her when we were about three years old, I decided that no matter what it was, I would protect her from it. But, it has never been easy with that girl." I finish explaining to them.

"Why did you decide that Rin?" Coco asked me.

"Well, up until she met you guys, she's only ever had one friend. No-one to trust or call a friend apart from me. That's why I was worried when she asked me to become a precure with me. I wasn't scared for my sake, it was for hers because that was the one thing I had no idea on how to protect her from. So, that brings me onto something I've been wanting to say for awhile..." I pause, taking in a deep breath before bowing my head slightly towards them  
"Thank you for everything you've done for Nozomi."

Coming back up from the slight bow, I noticed a mixture of emotions across the faces in the room. Stunned, Surprised, Shocked to name a few.

Karen was the first one to break out of this slight trance by saying "So she had only you until she became a precure and found the rest of us? That kind of explains why she wanted all of us too get along and why she was so shocked when that happened. Right Rin-san?"

Before I could tell her she was right, there was a huge clap of thunder followed by a rush of lightning. Urara squealed and ducked behind Syrup. Nozomi's not back yet. Crap! I only just remembered she's got astraphobia **(Phobia of thunder and lightning storms.) **"If that's true, we need to go find her and fast!" Coco yelled.

"Wait, what are you talking about?" I ask him confused. what does he mean?

"Rin, you just said it yourself. Nozomi has astraphobia. That's the phobia of thunder and lightning right?" I nod. "You must of been thinking out loud again." Komachi says. Oh, I need to stop doing that. They just giggled at me again.

"Let's not just stand around then. Let's go find our leader!" I say walking out the doors.

* * *

Five minutes Later, In the Woods.

"Nozomi?! Where are you?!" Our calls echo through-out the distance we decided to cover and search in pairs or alone, looking for the person we relied on the most, yet she didn't even know it. Where on earth did she go? "OVER HERE! I FOUND HER!" We hear. But we didn't except to find a hoshinna along with her.

"Nozomi, what the hell did you think you were doing!" Kurumi yells at her when we finally reached where we heard Syrup shout from. She pouts slightly but isn't affected by her shouting as she goes on to explain.

"I thought I heard something so I came out to investigate. My hunch was right since it turned out to be a Hoshinna." Guess you could say that without thinking, my hand collides with her head. "Idiot." I state before pulling out my CureMo. "Lets do this then." I say.

"PRECURE, METAMORPHOSIS!" we yell, allowing the bright lights to cover our bodies, turning us into the forms we fight in: Our alter-egos, Precure. Landing, saying who we are as Kurumi transforms. "Yes! Precure 5!" we yell seconds before the lightning strikes again, causing the strongest person we have ever known, to flinch.

Grabbing her hand to reassure her, she looks at us then races forward, letting us go. "It's funny, you know, yet weird. She had fear in her eyes despite her smiling." Rose says as we charge behind the person the leads us into every battle that we've ever had, the one we have always trusted and loved with everything we have, yet she has never known it, Cure Dream, Our Leader.

That's probably why. We love her out of everyone there is in this world, same goes for when we trust her. When we first became a team, she told us that she wasn't suited to be the leader, yet she proves herself wrong every single day. She has her share of flaws, okay more than her share, but that's alright, we love her for being the way she is.

Thoughts like these race through my mind whilst we fight. "You're pretty worthless as a leader, Cure Dream. Rushing ahead, never thinking about your friends safety. If you ask me, you shouldn't be allowed to be a leader. In fact, you shouldn't be allowed to live at all!" This grabs our attention away from the Hoshinna. We turn to face Scorpo, "Eternal!"

How dare he! "How dare you! You of all people saying she shouldn't live, How DARE YOU!" I scream rushing forwards punching him, but I didn't get there in time to save her. He sent Dream flying backwards though lots of trees before hitting a solid oak. Enraged, I start punching him with everything I have. Ignoring the hot flow of tears running down my cheeks, making the glisten, I lit my hands and started punching him again.

It only took twenty of those punches to knock him out, yet, that wasn't enough. I turn to face the Hoshinna which started heading towards Dream. "Not so fast, flame girl." I hear which makes me avert my eyes from the Hoshinna to Aqua.

"What did you just say?!" I spat at her viciously.

"That just proved my point. You're too worked up. Let us handle this and you go get our leader." She says facing me. I nod, turning on my heels and started to proceed to where someone we love is, most likely hurt.

Wait, what was that in Aqua's eyes? It looked like something snapped inside her. There was just... Pure anger. She was angry, ha not the only one. Guess that's something we have in common as well. We were both angry at him for doing that. Who wouldn't though? I mean, without even looking I knew the others were angry as well with in an instant. Well, that does happen when she gets hurt.

Upon reaching my, no that's wrong, Our precious person, Coco and Natts kept telling her to stay sat down. "Dream, how you holding up?" I ask trying to hid my anger. I guess it kind of didn't work since she told me to calm down.

"Calm down, Rouge. I'm doing fine. Right then..." she attempted to stand up but was only held down by Natsu, Coco and now Syrup.

"Let her go guys. The others sent me to pick her and you guys up." I explain. She attempts to stand up again but this time, she failed and ended up letting out a painful crying sound. "Hey you alright?" I ask going down to the floor beside her. Looking at her, I try to figure out where she's hurt, only to look down at her leg to see something that I didn't really want to see. There was a massive cut running down her leg, bleeding as if there was no tomorrow.

"Did... did that monster do that to you?" I say, allowing all the anger I tried keeping inside for her sake out, getting the better of me. Rising up and turning on my heel, I race back to the others. "Aqua, go to Dream now. Her leg has a massive cut running down it and it's bleeding like mad. Go bandage her leg before she bleeds to death. I'll take over from here." I yell, getting their attention. Aqua nods and quickly paces through the clearing where I just emerged from.

"You Bastard!" I scream, charging forwards. Rose, Lemonade and Mint don't hold me back this time though. Instead, they join in as well. "Precure, Fire Strike!" I yell, putting everything I have left in energy into it, knocking it over as Lemonade calls out her attack.

"Precure, Prism Chains!" A cluster of chains wrap around it and hold it down as Rose finishes it of with Metal Blizzard. I don't understand why but I couldn't relax. Well, that was until I felt a hand on my shoulder. Turning around, I see the face that could light up a whole world with a smile.

After undoing our transformations, the others noticed her leg. "You do know you can't go swimming with your leg like that, right Nozomi?" Kurumi states towards her. She shrugs.

"It's only a scar that has opened up recently so it should heal by the end of tomorrow. I heal fast from cuts and bruises but if it's a cold or a something like that then it takes about a week maybe a week and a half to recover." She explains to us. Wait, the only scar that she's ever told me about that she has on her leg is the one from when we were younger.

"The scars from when me and Rin got lost and I ended up cutting my leg on some glass. It never did heal properly so I kind of guessed that it would open up soon." She continues to explain. Just as I thought. Without thinking, my hand collides with her head again.

"Idiot, should of at least told us." I say pulling my hand back and resting it in my front pocket. I know it was an excuse, but from the looks of it the others didn't. Guess that shows how much faith all of us have in her. What was going to happen from there, we had no idea but at times, it's fun not knowing.

Before anything else was said, she stepped away from Karen and bows. This catches all of our attention. "Sorry! He was right though, I don't think about anything before charging into fights. I should be thinking about how to keep you guys safe." She announces to us. Stunned. Guess that's what you could say we were for at least a moment or two before she raised her head again. This time, it looked like she was going to cry.

"You're wrong" A voice says. The others look to me. That voice was mine. "He wasn't right at all Nozomi! It's because you charge into them, it's because you slow yourself down to keep us safe, it's all because of the things you do for us, that's what makes you the most suitable person to be our leader. That's not going to change, ever."

"She's right you know. Because you charge into fights, you give us the courage to follow you into them and it's because you look out for us during the fights we have, you give us the strength to carry on being carefully reckless." Karen joins in with me.

"Also, it's because you smile, we have the strength to do anything at all. Because it's warm, kind, comforting, supportive and energizing to see. To be honest before I met you, I was more than happy seeing your smile from afar. But now that I know you, I feel privileged to know your reason to smile and it is an amazing smile." Komachi states, standing beside us.

"So, Nozomi, there's one thing we would like you too do. Fortunately it is something only you can do." Kurumi steps in, followed by Urara, Natsu and Syrup as Coco goes over to help her to stand before the pressure she's putting on her leg becomes too much for her.

Synchronized, like we've rehearsed this over a million times, we bow. "Please continue to light up our way with your smile." We say.

"Don't let anyone take away our precious treasure, which is you." Coco adds afterwards. Raising our heads, we notice that was a flow of tears streaming down her face.

"Don't cry, don't cry..." She starts muttering to herself despite her already doing so. In the end, after about half a minute, she decided to hide away in Coco's shoulder. It took awhile before she stopped shaking slightly and faced us again, this time with red puffy cheeks and eyes. "I promise." Is all she managed to say before she cried again, but this time, we all went over and gave her the best group hug anyone could ever ask for. One with something that was only meant for her.

Our love...

_Maybe that's the reason why. _I think. _Why we are the way we have came to be. Maybe it was all down to that one person. That one person that supported us through everything and never gave up even when it looked awkward and when things were looking dark. _Guess you could say that she was _our shining star__. _

That person, our shining person, is the one we choose to lead us. Yumehara Nozomi, Cure Dream, Friend, Lover and Leader.

Our most precious treasure. The one we all love and we choose to never let go of again.

She'll always be in our hearts.

Even if we lose contact, she will be there.

Forever.

No matter what.

* * *

**A/N: Hey guys, Pearl here! **

**So what did you guys think? It took a while to write but it's done finally. I really enjoyed writing this story as well so if you want me to make more like this, I would be more than happy! Thank you to Royal Lovely Pink Rose for proof-reading this for me when it was still in the beginning stages. This story was entirely in Natsuki Rin's POV. I hope you all enjoyed and please R&R! **

**Bye little bisectimons! This is Pearl signing out and going into a corner of depression (Kuroko lost his misdirection!). **

**Jai ne!**


End file.
